Synonyms

Vietnamese

Noun

Wangaaybuwan-Ngiyambaa

Noun

Not to be confused with Kali
(demon), the personification of Kali Yuga

Kali, also known as Kalika (Bengali: কালী, /
কালিকা ; Sanskrit: ), is a
Hindu goddess
associated with death and destruction. Despite her negative
connotations, she is not actually the goddess of death, but rather
of Time and Change. Although sometimes presented as black and
violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still
has some influence. More complex Tantric beliefs
sometimes extend her role so far as to be the "Ultimate Reality" or
Brahman.
She is also revered as Bhavatarini (lit. "redeemer of the
universe"). Comparatively recent devotional movements largely
conceive Kali as a benevolent mother-goddess.

Kali is represented as the consort of god
Shiva, on
whose body she is often seen standing. She is associated with many
other Hindu goddesses like Durga, Bhadrakali,
Sati,
Rudrani,
Parvati and
Chamunda.
She is the foremost among the Dasa-Mahavidyas, ten
fierce Tantric goddesses.

Etymology

is the feminine of "black, dark coloured" (per
Panini
4.1.42). It appears as the name of a form of Durga in Mahabharata
4.195, and as the name of an evil female spirit in Harivamsa
11552.

The homonymous "appointed time", which depending
on context can mean "death", is distinct from "black", but became
associated through popular
etymology. The association is seen in a passage from the ,
depicting a female figure who carries away the spirits of slain
warriors and animals. She is called (which Thomas Coburn, a
historian of Sanskrit Goddess literature, translates as "night of
death") and also (which, as Coburn notes, can be read here either
as a proper name or as a description "the black one").

Kali's association with blackness stands in
contrast to her consort, Shiva, whose body is
covered by the white ashes of the cremation ground (Sanskrit: ) in
which he meditates, and with which Kali is also associated, as
.

Origin

Kali appears in the Mundaka
Upanishad (section 1, chapter 2, verse 4) not explicitly as a
goddess, but as the black tongue of the seven flickering tongues of
Agni, the
Hindu god of
fire. However, the
prototype of the figure now known as Kali appears in the Rig Veda, in the
form of a goddess named Raatri. Raatri is considered to be the
prototype of both Durga and Kali.

In the Sangam era, circa
200BCE-200CE, of Tamilakam, a
Kali-like bloodthirsty goddess named Kottravai appears in the
literature of the period. Like Kali she has dishevelled hair,
inspires fear in those who approach her and feasts on battlegrounds
littered with the dead.

It was the composition of the Puranas in late
antiquity that firmly gave Kali a place in the Hindu pantheon. Kali
or Kalika is described in the Devi
Mahatmya (also known as the Chandi or the Durgasaptasati) from
the Markandeya
Purana, circa 300-600CE, where she is said to have emanated
from the brow of the goddess Durga, a slayer of
demons or avidya, during
one of the battles between the divine and anti-divine forces. In
this context, Kali is considered the 'forceful' form of the great
goddess Durga. Another account of the origins of Kali is found in
the Matsya
Purana, circa 1500CE, which states that she originated as a
mountain tribal goddess in the north-central part of India, in the
region of Mount Kalanjara (now known as Kalinjar). However
this account is disputed because the legend was of later
origin.

The Kalika
Purana a work of late ninth or early tenth century, is one of
the Upapuranas. The Kalika Purana mainly describes different
manifestations of the Goddess, gives their iconographic details,
mounts, and weapons. It also provides ritual procedures of
worshipping Kalika.

In Tantra

Goddesses play an important role in the study and
practice of Tantra Yoga, and are
affirmed to be as central to discerning the nature of reality as
the male deities are. Although Parvati is often
said to be the recipient and student of Shiva's wisdom in the
form of Tantras, it is Kali who seems to dominate much of the
Tantric iconography, texts, and rituals. In many sources Kali is
praised as the highest reality or greatest of all deities. The
Nirvnana-tantra says the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva all arise from
her like bubbles in the sea, ceaselessly arising and passing away,
leaving their original source unchanged. The Niruttara-tantra and
the Picchila-tantra declare all of Kali's mantras to be the
greatest and the Yogini-tantra , Kamakhya-tantra and the
Niruttara-tantra all proclaim Kali vidyas (manifestations of
Mahadevi, or "divinity itself"). They declare her to be an essence
of her own form (svarupa) of the Mahadevi.

In the Mahanirvana-tantra, Kali is one of the
epithets for the primordial sakti, and in one passage Shiva praises
her:

''At the dissolution of things, it is Kala [Time] Who will
devour all, and by reason of this He is called Mahakala [an epithet
of Lord Shiva], and since Thou devourest Mahakala Himself, it is
Thou who art the Supreme Primordial Kalika. Because Thou devourest
Kala, Thou art Kali, the original form of all things, and because
Thou art the Origin of and devourest all things Thou art called the
Adya [primordial Kali. Resuming after Dissolution Thine own form,
dark and formless, Thou alone remainest as One ineffable and
inconceivable. Though having a form, yet art Thou formless; though
Thyself without beginning, multiform by the power of Maya, Thou art
the Beginning of all, Creatrix, Protectress, and Destructress that
Thou art.

The figure of Kali conveys death, destruction,
fear, and the consuming aspects of reality. As such, she is also a
"forbidden thing", or even death itself. In the Pancatattva ritual,
the sadhaka boldly seeks to confront Kali, and thereby assimilates
and transforms her into a vehicle of salvation. This is clear in
the work of the Karpuradi-stotra, a short praise to Kali describing
the Pancatattva ritual unto her, performed on cremation grounds.
(Samahana-sadhana)

He, O Mahakali who in the cremation-ground, naked, and with
dishevelled hair, intently meditates upon Thee and recites Thy
mantra, and with each recitation makes offering to Thee of a
thousand Akanda flowers with seed, becomes without any effort a
Lord of the earth. 0 Kali, whoever on Tuesday at midnight, having
uttered Thy mantra, makes offering even but once with devotion to
Thee of a hair of his Sakti [his female companion] in the
cremation-ground, becomes a great poet, a Lord of the earth, and
ever goes mounted upon an elephant.

The Karpuradi-stotra'' clearly indicates that
Kali is more than a terrible, vicious, slayer of demons who serves
Durga or
Shiva. Here,
she is identified as the supreme mistress of the universe,
associated with the five elements. In union with Lord Shiva, who is said to
be her spouse, she creates and destroys worlds. Her appearance also
takes a different turn, befitting her role as ruler of the world
and object of meditation. In contrast to her terrible aspects, she
takes on hints of a more benign dimension. She is described as
young and beautiful, has a gentle smile, and makes gestures with
her two right hands to dispel any fear and offer boons. The more
positive features exposed offer the distillation of divine wrath
into a goddess of salvation, who rids the sadhaka of fear. Here,
Kali appears as a symbol of triumph over death.

In Bengali tradition

Kali is also central figure in late
medieval Bengali devotional
literature, with such devotees as Ramprasad
Sen (1718-75). With the exception of being associated with
Parvati as
Shiva's
consort, Kali is rarely pictured in Hindu mythology and iconography
as a motherly figure until Bengali devotion beginning in the early
eighteenth century. Even in Bengali tradition her appearance and
habits change little, if at all.

The Tantric approach to Kali is to display
courage by confronting her on cremation grounds in the dead of
night, despite her terrible appearance. In contrast, the Bengali
devotee appropriates Kali's teachings, adopting the attitude of a
child. In both cases, the goal of the devotee is to become
reconciled with death and to learn acceptance of the way things
are. These themes are well addressed in Ramprasad's work. Ramprasad
comments in many of his other songs that Kali is indifferent to his
wellbeing, causes him to suffer, brings his worldly desires to
nothing and his worldly goods to ruin. He also states that she does
not behave like a mother should and that she ignores his
pleas:

Can mercy be found in the heart of her who was born of the
stone? [a reference to Kali as the daughter of Himalaya]

Were she not merciless, would she kick the breast of her lord?

Men call you merciful, but there is no trace of mercy in you.
Mother.

You have cut off the headset the children of others, and these
you wear as a garland around your neck.

It matters not how much I call you "Mother, Mother." You hear
me, but you will not listen.

To be a child of Kali, Ramprasad asserts, is to
be denied of earthly delights and pleasures. Kali is said to not
give what is expected. To the devotee, it is perhaps her very
refusal to do so that enables her devotees to reflect on dimensions
of themselves and of reality that go beyond the material
world.

A significant portion of Bengali devotional music
features Kali as its central theme and is known as Shyama
Sangeet. Mostly sung by male vocalists, today even women have
taken to this form of music. One of the finest singers of Shyama
Sangeet is Pannalal Bhattacharya.

Mythology

Slayer of Raktabija

In Kali's most famous myth, Durga and her
assistants, Matrikas, wound
the demon Raktabija, in
various ways and with a variety of weapons, in an attempt to
destroy him. They soon find that they have worsened the situation,
as for every drop of blood that is spilt from Raktabija the demon
reproduces a copy of himself. The battlefield becomes increasingly
filled with his duplicates. Durga, in dire need of help, summons
Kali to combat the demons.

The Devi
Mahatmyam describes: ''Out of the surface of her (Durga's)
forehead, fierce with frown, issued suddenly Kali of terrible
countenance, armed with a sword and noose. Bearing the strange
khatvanga
(skull-topped staff ), decorated with a garland of skulls, clad in
a tiger’s skin, very appalling owing to her emaciated flesh, with
gaping mouth, fearful with her tongue lolling out, having deep
reddish eyes, filling the regions of the sky with her roars,
falling upon impetuously and slaughtering the great asuras in that army, she devoured
those hordes of the foes of the devas.''

Kali destroys Raktabija by sucking the blood from
his body and putting the many Raktabija duplicates in her gaping
mouth. Pleased with her victory, Kali then dances on the field of
battle, stepping on the corpses of the slain. Her consort Shiva lies among the
dead beneath her feet, a representation of Kali commonly seen in
her iconography as Daksinakali'.

In Devi Mahatmya version of this story, Kali is also described
as an Matrika and as a Shakti or power of
Devi. She is
given the epithet (Chamunda) i.e the
slayer of demons Chanda and Munda. Chamunda is very often
identified with Kali and is very much like her in appearance and
habit.

Daksinakali

In her most famous pose as Daksinakali'', it is
said that Kali, becoming drunk on the blood of her victims on the
battlefield, dances with destructive frenzy. In her fury she fails
to see the body of her husband Shiva who lies among the corpses on
the battlefield. Ultimately the cries of Shiva attract Kali's
attention, calming her fury. As a sign of her shame at having
disrespected her husband in such a fashion, Kali sticks out her
tongue. However, some sources state that this interpretation is a
later version of the symbolism of the tongue: in tantric contexts,
the tongue is seen to denote the element (guna) of rajas (energy and action)
controlled by sattva,
spiritual and godly qualities.

One South Indian tradition tells of a dance
contest between Shiva and Kali. After defeating the two demons
Sumbha and
Nisumbha,
Kali takes residence in a forest. With fierce companions she
terrorizes the surrounding area. One of Shiva's devotees becomes
distracted while doing austerities and asks Shiva to rid the forest
of the destructive goddess. When Shiva arrives, Kali threatens him,
claiming the territory as her own. Shiva challenges her to a dance
contest, and defeats her when she is unable to perform the
energetic Tandava dance.
Although here Kali is defeated, and is forced to control her
disruptive habits, we find very few images or other myths depicting
her in such manner.

Maternal Kali

Another myth depicts the infant Shiva calming
Kali, instead. In this similar story, Kali again defeated her
enemies on the battlefield and began to dance out of control, drunk
on the blood of the slain. To calm her down and to protect the
stability of the world, Shiva is sent to the battlefield, as an
infant, crying aloud. Seeing the child's distress, Kali ceases
dancing to take care of the helpless infant. She picks him up,
kisses his head, and proceeds to breast feed the infant Shiva. This
myth depicts Kali in her benevolent, maternal aspect; something
that is revered in Hinduism, but not often recognized in the
West.

Mahakali

Mahakali (Sanskrit:
Mahākālī, Devanagari:
महाकाली), literally translated as Great Kali, is sometimes
considered as greater form of Kali, identified with the Ultimate
reality Brahman. It can
also simply be used as an honorific of the Goddess Kali, signifying her
greatness by the prefix "Mahā-". Mahakali, in Sanskrit, is
etymologically the feminized variant of Mahakala or Great
Time (which is interpreted also as Death), an epithet of
the God Shiva in Hinduism. Mahakali is the presiding Goddess of the
first episode of Devi
Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as
Shakti. Here
Devi serves as the agent who allows the cosmic order to be
restored.

Iconography

Kali is portrayed mostly in two forms: the
popular four-armed form and the ten-armed Mahakali form. In both of
her forms, she is described as being black in color but is most
often depicted as blue in popular Indian art. Her eyes are
described as red with intoxication and in absolute rage, Her hair
is shown disheveled, small fangs sometimes protrude out of Her
mouth and Her tongue is lolling. She is often shown naked or just
wearing a skirt made of human arms and a garland of human heads.
She is also accompanied by serpents
and a jackal while standing on a seemingly dead Shiva, usually
right foot forward to symbolize the more popular Dakshinamarga
or right-handed path, as opposed to the more infamous and
transgressive Vamamarga or
left-handed path.

In the ten armed form of Mahakali she is depicted
as shining like a blue stone. She has ten faces and ten feet and
three eyes. She has ornaments decked on all her limbs. There is no
association with Siva.

The Kalika Purana describes Kali as possessing a
soothing dark complexion, as perfectly beautiful, riding a lion,
four armed, holding a sword and blue lotuses, her hair
unrestrained, body firm and youthful.

In spite of her seemingly terrible form, Kali is
often considered the kindest and most loving of all the Hindu
goddesses, as she is regarded by her devotees as the Mother of the
whole Universe. And, because of her terrible form she is also often
seen as a great protector. When the Bengali
saint Ramakrishna
once asked a devotee why one would prefer to worship Mother over
him, this devotee rhetorically replied, “Maharaj, when they are in
trouble your devotees come running to you. But, where do you run
when you are in trouble?”

According to Ramakrishna darkness is Ultimate
Mother or Kali:

My Mother is the principle of consciousness. She
is Akhanda Satchidananda; indivisible Reality, Awareness, and
Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black. The
waters of the ocean depths are the same; The infinite is always
mysteriously dark. This inebriating darkness is my beloved
Kali.

''-Sri Ramakrishna

Throughout her history artists the world over
have portrayed Kali in a myriad of poses and settings, some of
which stray far from the popular description, and are sometimes
even graphically sexual in nature. Given the popularity of this
Goddess, artists everywhere will continue to explore the
magnificence of Kali’s iconography. This is clear in the work of
such contemporary artists as Charles
Wish, and Tyeb Mehta,
who sometimes take great liberties with the traditional, accepted
symbolism, but still demonstrate a true reverence for the Shakta sect.

Popular form

Classic depictions of Kali share several
features, as follows:

Kali's most common four armed iconographic image
shows each hand carrying variously a sword, a trishul
(trident), a severed head and a bowl or skull-cup (kapala) catching the blood of the
severed head.

Two of these hands (usually the left) are holding
a sword and a severed head. The Sword signifies Divine Knowledge
and the Human Head signifies human Ego which must be slain by
Divine Knowledge in order to attain Moksha. The other
two hands (usually the right) are in the abhaya
and varadamudras or blessings, which
means her initiated devotees (or anyone worshiping her with a true
heart) will be saved as she will guide them here and in the
hereafter.

She has a garland consisting of human heads,
variously enumerated at 108 (an
auspicious number in Hinduism and the number of countable beads on
a JapaMala or
rosary for repetition of Mantras) or 51,
which represents Varnamala or the
Garland of letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, Devanagari.
Hindus believe Sanskrit is a
language of dynamism,
and each of these letters represents a form of energy, or a form of
Kali. Therefore she is generally seen as the mother of language,
and all mantras.

She is often depicted naked which symbolizes her
being beyond the covering of Maya
since she is pure (nirguna) being-consciousness-bliss and far above
prakriti. She is shown as very dark as she is brahman in its
supreme unmanifest state. She has no permanent qualities -- she
will continue to exist even when the universe ends. It is therefore
believed that the concepts of color, light, good, bad do not apply
to her -- she is the pure, un-manifested energy, the Adi-shakti.

Mahakali form

Kali is depicted in the Mahakali form as having
ten heads, ten arms, and ten legs. Each of her ten hands is
carrying a various implement which vary in different accounts, but
each of these represent the power of one of the Devas or
Hindu Gods and are often the identifying weapon or ritual item of a
given Deva. The implication is that Mahakali subsumes and is
responsible for the powers that these deities possess and this is
in line with the interpretation that Mahakali is identical with
Brahman. While not displaying ten heads, an "ekamukhi" or one
headed image may be displayed with ten arms, signifying the same
concept: the powers of the various Gods come only through Her
grace.

Shiva in Kali iconography

In both these images she is shown standing on the
prone, inert or dead body of Shiva. There is a mythological story
for the reason behind her standing on what appears to be Shiva’s
corpse, which translates as follows:

Once Kali had destroyed all the demons in battle,
she began a terrific dance out of the sheer joy of victory. All the
worlds or lokas began to
tremble and sway under the impact of her dance. So, at the request
of all the Gods, Shiva himself asked her to desist from this
behavior. However, she was too intoxicated to listen. Hence, Shiva
lay like a corpse among the slain demons in order to absorb the
shock of the dance into himself. When Kali eventually stepped upon
her husband she realized her mistake and bit her tongue in
shame.

The Tantric
interpretation of Kali standing on top of her husband is as
follows:

The Shiv tattava (Divine Consciousness as
Shiva) is inactive, while the Shakti tattava
(Divine Energy as Kali) is active. Shiva, or Mahadeva
represents Brahman, the
Absolute pure consciousness which is beyond all names, forms and
activities. Kali, on the other hand, represents the potential (and
manifested) energy responsible for all names, forms and activities.
She is his Shakti, or creative power, and is seen as the substance
behind the entire content of all consciousness. She can never exist
apart from Shiva or act independently of him, i.e., Shakti, all the
matter/energy of the universe, is not distinct from Shiva, or
Brahman, but is rather the dynamic power of Brahman.

While this is an advanced concept in monistic Shaktism, it also
agrees with the NondualTrika philosophy of
Kashmir,
popularly known as Kashmir
Shaivism and associated most famously with Abhinavagupta.
There is a colloquial saying that "Shiva without Shakti is Shava"
which means that without the power of action (Shakti) that is
Mahakali (represented as the short "i" in Devanagari) Shiva (or
consciousness itself) is inactive; Shava means corpse in Sanskrit and the play
on words is that all Sanskrit consonants are assumed to be followed
by a short letter "a" unless otherwise noted. The short letter "i"
represents the female power or Shakti that activates Creation. This
is often the explanation for why She is standing on Shiva, who is
either Her husband and complement in Shaktism or the
Supreme Godhead in Shaivism.

To properly understand this complex Tantric
symbolism it is important to remember that the meaning behind Shiva
and Kali does not stray from the non-dualistic parlance of Shankara or the
Upanisads.
According to both the Mahanirvana and
Kularnava
Tantras, there are two distinct ways of perceiving the same
absolute reality. The first is a transcendental plane which is
often described as static, yet infinite. It is here that there is
no matter, there is no universe and only consciousness exists. This
form of reality is known as Shiva, the absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda
-- existence, knowledge and bliss. The second is an active plane,
an immanent plane, the plane of matter, of Maya,
i.e., where the illusion of space-time and
the appearance of an actual universe does exist. This form of
reality is known as Kali or Shakti, and (in its entirety) is still
specified as the same Absolute Sat-Chit-Ananda.
It is here in this second plane that the universe (as we commonly
know it) is experienced and is described by the Tantric seer as the
play of Shakti, or God as Mother Kali.

From a Tantric perspective, when one meditates on
reality at rest, as absolute pure consciousness (without the
activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one refers to
this as Shiva or Brahman. When one meditates on reality as dynamic
and creative, as the Absolute content of pure consciousness (with
all the activities of creation, preservation or dissolution) one
refers to it as Kali or Shakti. However, in either case the yogini
or yogi is interested in one and the same reality -- the only
difference being in name and fluctuating aspects of appearance. It
is this which is generally accepted as the meaning of Kali standing
on the chest of Shiva.

Although there is often controversy surrounding
the images of divine copulation, the general consensus is benign
and free from any carnal impurities in its substance. In Tantra the
human body is a symbol for the microcosm of the universe; therefore
sexual process is responsible for the creation of the world.
Although theoretically Shiva and Kali (or Shakti) are inseparable,
like fire and its power to burn, in the case of creation they are
often seen as having separate roles. With Shiva as male and Kali as
female it is only by their union that creation may transpire. This
reminds us of the prakrti and purusa doctrine of Samkhya wherein
prakāśa- vimarśa has no practical value,
just as without prakrti, purusa is quite inactive. This (once
again) stresses the interdependencies of Shiva and Shakti and the
vitality of their union.

Development

In the later traditions, Kali has become
inextricably linked with Shiva. The unleashed form of Kali often
becomes wild and uncontrollable, and only Shiva is able to tame
her. This is both because she is often a transformed version of one
of his consorts and because he is able to match her wildness. The
ancient text of Kali Kautuvam describes her competition with Shiva
in dance, from which the sacred 108 Karanas
appeared. Shiva won the competition by acting the urdvatandava, one of the Karanas, by
raising his feet to his head. Other texts describe Shiva appearing
as a crying infant and appealing to her maternal instincts. While
Shiva is said to be able to tame her, the iconography often
presents her dancing on his fallen body, and there are accounts of
the two of them dancing together, and driving each other to such
wildness that the world comes close to unravelling.

Shiva's involvement with Tantra and Kali's
dark nature have led to her becoming an important Tantric figure.
To the Tantric
worshippers, it was essential to face her Curse, the terror of
death, as willingly as they accepted Blessings from her beautiful,
nurturing, maternal aspect. For them, wisdom meant learning that no
coin has only one side: as death cannot exist without life, so life
cannot exist without death. Kali's role sometimes grew beyond that
of a chaos -- which could be confronted -- to that of one who could
bring wisdom, and she is given great metaphysical significance by
some Tantric texts. The Nirvāna-tantra clearly presents her
uncontrolled nature as the Ultimate Reality, claiming that the
trimurti of Brahma, Visnu and Rudra arise and disappear from her
like bubbles from the sea. Although this is an extreme case, the
Yogini-tantra, Kamakhya-tantra and the Niruttara-tantra declare her
the svarupa (own-being) of the Mahadevi (the great Goddess, who is
in this case seen as the combination of all devis).

The final stage of development is the worshipping
of Kali as the Great
Mother, devoid of her usual violence. This practice is a break
from the more traditional depictions. The pioneers of this
tradition are the 18th century Shakta poets such as Ramprasad
Sen, who show an awareness of Kali's ambivalent nature.
Ramakrishna,
the 19th century Bengali saint, was also a great devotee of Kali;
the western popularity of whom may have contributed to the more
modern, equivocal interpretations of this Goddess. Rachel
McDermott's work, however, suggests that for the common, modern
worshipper, Kali is not seen as fearful, and only those educated in
old traditions see her as having a wrathful component. Some credit
to the development of Devi must also be given to Samkhya. Commonly
referred to as the Devi of delusion, Mahamaya, acting
in the confines of (but not being bound by) the nature of the three
gunas, takes three forms:
Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and
Maha-Saraswati, being
her tamas-ika,
rajas-ika and sattva-ika forms. In this sense,
Kali is simply part of a larger whole. Like Sir John
Woodroffe and Georg
Feuerstein, many Tantric scholars (as well as sincere
practitioners) agree that, no matter how propitious or appalling
you describe them, Shiva and Devi are simply
recognizable symbols for
everyday, abstract (yet tangible) concepts such as perception,
knowledge, space-time, causation and the process of liberating
oneself from the confines of such things. Shiva, symbolizing pure,
absolute consciousness, and Devi, symbolizing the entire content of
that consciousness, are ultimately one and the same -- totality
incarnate, a micro-macro-cosmic amalgamation of all subjects, all
objects and all phenomenal relations between the "two." Like man
and woman who both share many common, human traits yet at the same
time they are still different and, therefore, may also be seen as
complementary.

Worshippers prescribe various benign and horrific
qualities to Devi simply out of practicality. They do this so they
may have a variety of symbols to choose from, symbols which they
can identify and relate with from the perspective of their own,
ever-changing time, place and personal level of unfolding. Just
like modern chemists or physicists use a variety of molecular and
atomic models to describe what is unperceivable through
rudimentary, sensory input, the scientists of ontology and epistemology must do the
same. One of the underlying distinctions of Tantra, in comparison
to other religions, is that it allows the devotee the liberty to
choose from a vast array of complementary symbols and rhetoric that
which suits one’s evolving needs and tastes. From an aesthetic
standpoint, nothing is interdict and nothing is orthodox. In this
sense, the projection of some of Devi’s more gentle qualities onto
Kali is not sacrilege and the development of Kali really lies in
the practitioner, not the murthi.

In New Age and Neopaganism

An academic study of Western
Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all
cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the
West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its
new environment." However, these East-West fusions can also raise
complex and troubling issues of cultural
appropriation:

"A variety of writers and thinkers [...] have
found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration,
notably feminists and
participants in New Age
spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali
is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with
repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such
interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation,
stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these
authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars
of the Hindu religious tradition. The majority instead rely chiefly
on other popular feminist sources, almost none of which base their
interpretations on a close reading of Kali's Indian background.
[...] The most important issue arising from this discussion – even
more important than the question of 'correct' interpretation –
concerns the adoption of other people's religious symbols. [...] It
is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture:
religious associations and connotations have to be learned,
imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in
the native culture are not available."

The man who popularised the religion of Wicca, Gerald
Gardner, was reportedly particularly interested in Kali whilst
he was in the far east, before
retuning to England to write his seminal works on Wicca.